Hot-dip galvanized steel sheet can exhibit superior corrosion resistance. Accordingly, such steel sheets can often be used for automobiles, household electric appliances, building materials, and other various types of applications. In the past, building material applications were most common, but progress in operating technology has facilitated a reduction of dross-based defects in appearance. Thus, such sheet can now be used in large volumes in applications such as automobiles and household electric appliances, which may have stringent require requirements for appearance quality. As a result of these varied applications and requirements, diverse types of plating sheets may often be used. For example, a hot-dip galvannealized steel sheet obtained by heat treating hot-dip galvanized steel sheet can exhibit superior weldability as compared with hot-dip galvanized steel sheet. Such galvannealized steel sheet is being used in increasingly large volumes, particularly for automobile applications.
A method of utilizing Ni preplating to produce hot-dip galvanized steel sheet which can exhibit superior plating adhesion and corrosion resistance of worked parts is described, e.g., in Japanese Patent No. 2517169, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. However, the method described in this Japanese patent may not provide optimum plating conditions for the wide range of plating sheets commonly used such as those described above. Thus, there may be a need for an improved galvanization method which can be used for a wide range of plating sheets and applications.